Paperboy

"How about delivering newspapers... and delivering newspapers... and delivering newspapers FUN?"

Strolling around my friend's house, I discovered a gameboy color covered by a noticeably layer of dust. I asked him if he still used it, and he told me I could have everything he had for $60, game boy color, paperboy, pokemon, and a few other games. And after thinking for a while, i told him ''yes'' and proceeded to buy it. I expected the most from the transparent and translucent ''Paperboy'' cartridge, yet I knew already that i had NEVER enjoyed one Midway game. And sad to say, this was absolutely no exception. I would have to tell you that this cartridge was countlessly more useful and better on the outside than on the inside. In fact, its ranks down there as one of the worst games i have ever played. To make things simpler to you, i would first decribe to you the good stuff about this game. Three simple words. THERE ARE NONE!

Graphics:2/10
I admit i have never seen any really good game boy graphics but C'MON! Its hard to notice any details. To put more on top of it, the framerate was slower than most other games. Your seen as this dinky little boy on a bicycle throwing a limited amount of newspapers to people's doors. You must avoid the distractions such as dogs, cats, and cars, and you get extra points for throwing your papers on something and causing vandalism. At no time does your viewpoint change, besides for a few instances when the screen shows a newspaper explaining your failure or success. The first time i played the game, i could only recognize 1/2 of the things i saw. Even until now i cant figure out what some of the things are.

Gameplay / Fun Factor:1/10
Does delivering newspapers sound fun to you? Probably not. In fact, its one of the most boring things that you will ever encounter. Basically in this game, you must deliver newspapers to people who subscribed for your newspaper, and when you deliver, you must not crash into anything. If you miss delivering a newspaper to someone's house, then that person will no longer subscribe. You must survive one week delivering newspapers to 10 some-odd houses. Every later day, there are more things to crash into, and the small bonus course becomes harder. If you crash too many times, you lose the game, or if you fail to give newspapers to everyone, you will lose customers. You have a limited number of newspapers. There are ONLY 3 courses, easy medium or hard. Therefore, you wont be playing for long before everything repeats.

Value:1/10
You wont be playing this game for very long. In fact, a good player can complete the entire game within an hour. After that, there isnt much point in playing it. There is no multiplayer.

Replay:3/10
You might want to come back into this game after having the bulk of your game time spent into other things. This game will be suitable as an occasional ''side dish''.

Music/sound effects:4/10
This is the only category that saves this game from a deathblow. Its a short track of poor music and occasionally, some other sounds. This is the best aspect of an unimpressive game.

Final Rating:2/10
This game is terrible. Don't buy it. Don't even look at it. Its only good as a gift for someone you hate most. If someone offers this to you as a gift, please ask for it to be exchanged. But don't open it. Please, don't make the fatal mistake. As a last resort, do anything to this game aside from actually playing it.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 06/06/02, Updated 06/06/02